WP

When People Want Punishment: Retributive Justice and the Puzzle of Authoritarian Popularity

Lily Tsai

Culture, humanities & social science

When People Want Punishment: Retributive Justice and the Puzzle of Authoritarian Popularity

By Lily Tsai, the Ford Professor of Political Science and chair of the MIT faculty

Cambridge University Press · 2021

Why are some authoritarian regimes popular with their citizens, while many democratic regimes are mistrusted or held in contempt? In this book, Tsai provides a theory for understanding when ordinary people are more likely to favor illiberal and authoritarian leaders and provides a unified framework for understanding authoritarian resilience and democratic fragility.

From Summer 2022 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News). Cover image via Google Books.